One season, in three successive games (I am not sure if this part is true, but one of the freebies of writing a blog is artistic license) I was struck by batted balls. Once when taking off from first by a line drive, once on a hard grounder up the middle as I was leaving second, and the last one when I was on third.
The last one was particularly galling - I was on the bag when the hitter hit a screamer down the line. I determined I was not going to bail out and dive into foul territory, which of course is the right thing to do from both the perspective of injury and not making an out. Instead I jumped up and tried to fold my legs under me, and sure enough took it right off my ankle.The humiliation of my awkward dance was nothing compared to the embarrassment of making an out and taking a hit and an RBI from my teammate.
I vowed to never let that happen to me again after that streak, and to date it has not. And that is over something like 1000 games ago.
Which brings me to today's topic - bad base running. Especially when someone gets doubled off on a line drive or hit by the ball. The kind of play that makes you say 'What were you thinking?'
We know that you don't want to publicly berate your teammate when this happens to him. It will eventually happen to everyone if they play long enough. Believe it or not, I have been known to yell at a teammate when they do something bonehead; I know, it is bad for team chemistry and may damage someone's fragile ego. I am in therapy now for it, and I am working on it, and my doc says he is proud of my progress.
But sometimes, you just have to let it out. So here it is for all past and future indiscretions on the basepaths:
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Oh, that felt good. I am better now. Thank you.
The last one was particularly galling - I was on the bag when the hitter hit a screamer down the line. I determined I was not going to bail out and dive into foul territory, which of course is the right thing to do from both the perspective of injury and not making an out. Instead I jumped up and tried to fold my legs under me, and sure enough took it right off my ankle.The humiliation of my awkward dance was nothing compared to the embarrassment of making an out and taking a hit and an RBI from my teammate.
I vowed to never let that happen to me again after that streak, and to date it has not. And that is over something like 1000 games ago.
Which brings me to today's topic - bad base running. Especially when someone gets doubled off on a line drive or hit by the ball. The kind of play that makes you say 'What were you thinking?'
We know that you don't want to publicly berate your teammate when this happens to him. It will eventually happen to everyone if they play long enough. Believe it or not, I have been known to yell at a teammate when they do something bonehead; I know, it is bad for team chemistry and may damage someone's fragile ego. I am in therapy now for it, and I am working on it, and my doc says he is proud of my progress.
But sometimes, you just have to let it out. So here it is for all past and future indiscretions on the basepaths:
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Oh, that felt good. I am better now. Thank you.
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